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Translator’s Note: The Interlude is told from Hikari’s perspective.

He always had a low profile. That being said, he wasn’t an average person. His grades were above average, and his athletic ability was slightly above average. He would remain seated and read during recess. However, he could carry on a conversation when spoken to.

He didn’t have a positive or negative influence on the class. That is what I, Tsukihara Hikari, thought of the person known as Toriyama Makoto. Being a member of the class committee, I had the duty of watching over the class, but I wasn’t particularly impressed with Toriyama.

Looking back, there were indeed times when events went well because of him. Sometimes he would lend a hand and help us get the jobs done early. However, that wasn’t always the case. He made his presence just barely visible so that people could remember him.

Which, in turn, made him even less impressive than someone who would completely bury their presence.

After all, people who never participated in any class discussion would typically be remembered as silent, but Toriyama was different. If one of my classmates went missing and I had to figure out who they were, I would have to think long and hard before his name came up.

That’s how I had previously perceived Toriyama.

Despite his reputation as a quiet person, he was the first to step up when we found ourselves in an extraordinary situation. My class had both male and female troublemakers, and they were a real pain. However, it was Toriyama who stirred the scandal out of all the people who were most inclined to cause trouble.

We found ourselves in an unprecedented scenario when every one of our classmates was summoned to a different world. The rapid turn of circumstances left us unprepared, so he pushed the king —the ruler of the kingdom that had summoned us— to make a deal with us.

The contract itself wasn’t bad. It guaranteed our safety, our lives, and our freedom, and in return, we would undergo training. No matter how much we tried to argue, we would eventually end up fighting because the entire point of our summons was to defeat the Demon Lord.

But Toriyama created a situation where people who didn’t want to fight could just claim they didn’t feel ready. And that was how the contract was set up. I was impressed that he’d been able to do this.

But with that, all we had accomplished was to eliminate one threat. Ultimately, Toriyama had behaved rudely to the king, setting up a scenario in which he could get executed.

There wasn’t a guarantee that the king would accept the contract. And all of us may have been held accountable for any offensive words spoken. While it was lucky that everything turned out okay, the fear of dying over a decision in this foreign land was real.

In that sense, I was unable to support his actions because supporting them now would open the possibility for similar cases down the road, which could lead to our deaths.

I was also uncomfortable with him choosing the class’s fate on his initiative. As he passionately spoke in front of us, it appeared that we all felt the same way about him. We all watched him with suspicion.

After that, I checked Toriyama’s status, only to find out his stats were quite low. He only had two skills, whereas everyone else had three. This led to our classmates’ hostility toward him growing even more. We weren’t happy that he was speaking up despite being so weak.

There was no more uproar after that, and each of us was shown to our rooms. During the walk, the maid who was escorting me shared that what Toriyama had done was dangerous and that we’d been saved thanks to the king’s kindness.

◇◇◇

Although I had my feelings about Toriyama, I was aware of my role in the class and the influence I wielded. That’s why I needed to understand the reason behind his actions.

As dawn broke, I approached him to ask about his behavior while he joined me and the rest of the class for breakfast. However, things didn’t go as planned since Takuma attacked him, and he ended up fainting.

If I had been able to listen to him properly then, something might have changed. However, I also did not approach him afterward to inquire about the meaning behind his actions.

Following that day, everyone in the class began to bully Toriyama. After all, he had caused quite the mess and alarmed every girl in the class.

It didn’t matter if he had succeeded in drawing a contract with the Fraus Kingdom—we were still in a foreign world. A world where things like statuses and magic, which would usually seem like fiction, actually exist.

We had to fight our way back to Earth. While the boys seemed to be having fun, not many girls felt the same. I, myself, was quite anxious, so I coped by taking care of the girls.

To prevent the girls from becoming even more anxious, I decided to ignore Toriyama. Moreover, there was a strange relief in knowing that there was someone beneath you during this stressful time.

Because of what he had done, I didn’t want to make amends with our classmates immediately, but I had planned to do it eventually.

But over the course of the following few days, when we saw that the Fraus Kingdom was willing to uphold the contract and our classmates grew accustomed to their new way of life, rumors about Toriyama started to spread.

I would never have believed such rumors before coming here, but knowing that Toriyama had selfishly made a contract with the king gave them more credence. After giving it some more thought, I judged that the bullying was him facing the consequences of his actions, so I made the decision not to approach him.

I chose to at least refrain from engaging in bullying out of mercy.

◇◇◇

A month or so passed, and Toriyama made a fatal error. He tortured and killed the maid who accompanied him. He’d likely been under a lot of stress. Although some of the bullying had gone too far, I believed killing her was still too much.

Ichinari, who was in charge of organizing the class alongside me, grabbed Toriyama’s shirt and questioned him violently. Toriyama murmured a ridiculous excuse in reply, his eyes looking considerably worse than when we arrived.

Ichinari then told us that Toriyama had used his skill, known as Contract, on the maid before killing her to prevent her from resisting. This was the point when I should’ve realized what was going on.

Ichinari was pressuring Toriyama to deactivate his skill, as it seemed he was also using it on Princess Sion. I couldn’t help but wonder what Toriyama’s expression was at that time.

Toriyama ultimately resisted to the end, prompting a one-on-one duel with Ichinari.